The gay community has a large number of corporate supporters including AT&T. The corporate giant has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign list of corporate supporters in every year since 2004. But, that doesn't mean that they always support the candidates that are friendliest to us, and this is one glaring example of that. It is just something that the gay community should keep in mind, in my opinion.
From The New Civil Rights Movement:
AT&T (NYSE:T), an international telecommunications monolith with revenue last year of over $128 billion, has donated $75,000 this year to help elect Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott the Governor of Texas.
The Dallas-based telecom corporation also donated $50,000 to the Texas AG's campaign last year, when it was expected Abbott would enter the gubernatorial race.
John Wright of Lone Star Q first reported the news, after investigating public records from the Texas Ethics Commission.
And, from that same article, here is a quote from an AT&T spokesperson indicating their support for the gay community, but also not giving the reason for supporting Greg Abbott and not Wendy Davis for governor of Texas.
“The PAC supports a variety of candidates for a variety of reasons,” AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said in an email to Lone Star Q, in response to an inquiry about the contributions to Abbott. “The PAC does not comment on reasons for contributions, but publicly discloses contributions consistent with state requirements.
“Diversity and inclusion are part of AT&T’s culture and operations, and we’re proud to be recognized as a leader in this area,” Richter added. “DiversityInc recently named AT&T No. 1 on its 2014 Top 10 Employers for LGBT Employees. And every year since 2004 we’ve received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for our fair treatment of our LGBTQ employees, including protection against discrimination, parity of health care benefits for domestic partners and other criteria.”
And, also from the article, Greg Abbott's position on certain issues of importance to the gay community,
Greg Abbott and his office are actively defending Texas' ban on same-sex marriage, claiming the ban is best for children -- all children.
In January, Abbott joined a lawsuit trying to force Houston Mayor Annise Parker to rescind the benefits the city has extended to its gay and lesbian married employees, as The New Civil Rights Movement reported. In February, Abbott received the endorsement of Sarah Palin, who said, "If he is good enough for Ted Nugent, he is good enough for me!”
On the other hand, Wendy Davis enthusiastically supports marriage equality and LGBT rights.
News of this donation comes on the heels of the discovery that Facebook (another pro LGBT corporation) had contributed 10K to the campaign of anti-gay Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.